Germany. Originally organized to search for non-German persons who had become missing or displaced during the war and to assist separated families in being reunited. It now holds millions of records on concentration camp prisoners, Jews, foreigners in German-controlled territories & displaced persons.

The customs of archives and the structure of archival holdings, the peculiarities of Using archives and the administrative organization of archives in Austria are the reason why genealogical research in archives is a time consuming purpose, considering both the variety of archival holdings of the Austrian State Archives and difficulties to find the relevant information. It is necessary to prepare a solid research strategy.